I remember back in the day, in the times of vanilla WoW’s Molten Core, or Blackwing Lair, how the druids in my guild used to struggle to get in a raid (and we were raiding in a 40-man setup back then too!). Basically, you were either resto back then, or you weren’t raiding. Simple as that. Ferals weren’t good tanks nor good DPS, balance offered the raid nothing but a goofy mascot and most of the gear that dropped was aimed at resto druids anyway.
Luckily things changed with TBC for raiding druids and now ferals are at high demand and hell, you could even get your fluffy ass in a raid as balanced if you try hard enough. And things are looking up for WOTLK as well, as Blizzard suggested on numerous occasions that “offspec” classes such as the retri paladins or boomkin druids will be given more weight in raids than ever before. So if you’re planning to raid as a druid in WOTLK, you’ll have 3 very distinct paths to go for:
Raiding as feral
In WOTLK, a raiding feral will still be best suited for tanking, rather than DPS. This is not to say that cats won’t be allowed in raids, or you won’t be able to alternate between shapes, especially since the tanking spot will have a new contender in the form of the death knight (which, btw is said to be an awesome tank).
Tanking as feral is distinctively different than tanking as a warrior, as I noticed even from my early bearform days (having played a lvl 70 tank at that point already). You’re a lot more dependant on getting hit than a warrior and aggro builds up a bit more steadily, rather than in spikes. This can be a good or a bad thing: if you’re in a raid where people know what they’re doing, steady aggro increase will mean higher overall DPS, as your damage dealers will be able to scale up their hits. However, if you have that one crazy rogue or mage nuking too close to the pull, you won’t be able to cope with it as well as a warrior could. So I guess it’s all about the people around you, rather than your own skill to support the raid, threatwise.
Raiding as balance
Right now, balance is not really an outstanding choice for PVE. A boomkin is mana-inefficient, doesn’t deal anywhere near as much DPS as other ranged classes, but it does offer a small boost to melee with the help of Improved Faerie Fire. So I guess the raid environment where a balance druid could really shine is one that has plenty of rogues, enhancement shamans, retri paladins and fury warriors. Any other scenario and you’re pretty much taking up the raid space with your big feathery ass.
Raiding as restoration
You’re a tree, casting green goo on other players. And yet, you’re one of the most sought-after members of a raid group. As restoration, you’re excellent main tank healers with your arsenal of HoTs, but you’ll also be called upon to keep random raid members up, in situations where an AOE healer such as a shaman or priest is ineffective. Besides, when compared to the other healer classes, your ability to combat ress and innervate either a healer or a ranged DPSer can give you a slight advantage. You’re still a goo casting tree though, just to be clear.
